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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25616245">Opening Pandora's Box</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltCephalopod/pseuds/CobaltCephalopod'>CobaltCephalopod</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Blood and Violence, M/M, Pandora Speculation, Possession, dark!shinichi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:22:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,952</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25616245</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobaltCephalopod/pseuds/CobaltCephalopod</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Blood smeared across the pure white breast of KID’s suit jacket, his wheezing breaths loud in the reverential silence as they stood witness to the impossible. KID was never meant to be downed by a bullet, not when the spectacle of his capture would have been a sight to behold in itself. Now, instead of stealing the poison-green emerald from its case, he left behind a dripping pool of red as smoke erupted around him, the signal of his usual mode of escape. </p><p>None of the police squad moved, despite the faint thought of how easy it would likely be to capture KID, their thoughts all occupied by who had fired the shot. Shinichi handed the gun back to Nakamori with a half-shrug, as if to say that he’d tried, before leaving behind those gathered in the room standing as still as if in a tomb."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>165</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>kaishinbigbang 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Opening Pandora's Box</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My amazing partner for this big bang drew the absolutely heart-wrenching art that inspired this fic, if you want your heart to hurt so good go <a href="https://kyuu029.tumblr.com/post/625328248766808064/takamei-shinichi-the-faint-voice-came-from-a">take a look</a>!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>    The gunshot rang out harsh amidst the general gasps of bewilderment that usually serenaded KID’s grand appearance at his heists. It echoed, reverberating off the glass ceiling and drawing shocked silence in its wake as the assembled officers and detectives watched the thief crumple before their eyes. His target had been the Smaragd of the Carpathian Basin, a jewel rumored to have been plundered in the eleventh century, and while he’d appeared in as dramatic a fashion as usual, he’d barely taken a bow before he’d taken much more to the chest. </p><p> Blood smeared across the pure white breast of KID’s suit jacket, his wheezing breaths loud in the reverential silence as they stood witness to the impossible. KID was never meant to be downed by a bullet, not when the spectacle of his capture would have been a sight to behold in itself. Now, instead of stealing the poison-green emerald from its case, he left behind a dripping pool of red as smoke erupted around him, the signal of his usual mode of escape. </p><p>    None of the police squad moved, despite the faint thought of how easy it would likely be to capture KID, their thoughts all occupied by who had fired the shot. Shinichi handed the gun back to Nakamori with a half-shrug, as if to say that he’d tried, before leaving behind those gathered in the room standing as still as if in a tomb. </p><p>    The chaos that erupted once he’d exited washed over him in disaffected waves that didn’t breach his cold focus while he rode the elevator to the roof. He was aware of what he’d done and the only regret he had was in not aiming well enough to hit the thief at a more fatal point. In his time working with the police, he’d handled a gun so seldom that he could count the occasions on one hand. </p><p>    <em> —beneath there. He might be hidden behind his illusory tarp but that won’t prevent a bullet from penetrating it; he has KID in the palm of his hand, caught like a mouse after forcing him to scramble through the maze of the clocktower on the way to his prize.  </em></p><p>
  <em> And yet, he almost wants it to keep going, for the repartee of their wits and minds to continue. He’d enjoyed it, even now he can feel a smile stretching across his lips unbidden and he finds he wants to meet the one who’s tested him so cleverly— </em>
</p><p>He’d have to be more careful at their next encounter. After underestimating his quarry’s ability to dodge, he was already a few steps behind. Frustration bubbled inside him, anger frothing at the edges and Shinichi scowled in the confines of the elevator slowly ticking its way up. Just as he slipped through the clutches of the task force downstairs, KID had slipped his noose as well. The startled expression of pain blooming across KID’s face is clear in his mind…</p><p>
  <em> “I’ll give you my phone number if you stop using pigeon post to send me letters,” Shinichi offers as he steps onto the roof at the top of the currently empty Skylight Hotel. It’ll be swarming with police the next day, in preparation for the exhibition of world treasures to take place inside, but they’ve left it vacant for the night never expecting that a thief would have any interest in it at this time.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The cheer dies in his mouth as he sees the figure sitting hunched over the edge, cape flapping above the fifty-story drop to the streets below and looking for all the world like it might threaten to pull him from his perch at any moment.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I heard you were working with Nightmare tonight?” he asks, close enough now to see KID clearly, and the sight cuts deep into his heart. Beyond the posture, so far from the usual poise and elegance KID displays even while escaping from the police, the absence of his gloves provides evidence that something has changed. The thief’s hands, hidden for so long from the world by the pure white of his gloves, are laid bare and trembling before Shinichi’s eyes. Their usual dexterity is absent, they can barely keep a hold of each other as they twist and shake in KID’s lap.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You’re not quite so famous as to have INTERPOL calling on you, I see,” KID says after a second of silence, his voice kept from quivering the same as his hands by the barest of threads. He becomes more aware of Shinichi as he steps closer to the edge and KID startles suddenly. “Don’t stand there. You could fall.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “So could you,” Shinichi replies, though he does put more distance between him and the sheer drop.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> KID gives the abyss, dark from the night and the streetlights’ faltering efforts, a long glance, leaning forward enough that Shinichi wants to fist his hands in his cape to keep him rooted.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “And yet I’ve caught so many people while they’re falling,” the thief finally mutters, words almost lost to the wind. “Why was this different?”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Shinichi has vivid memories of those, knows what it feels like—  </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>—flapping wildly through his clothes, the wind stinging his face as the ocean will surely do a thousand times more fatally when he lands and he wishes he’d gotten Ran free before they threw him from the airship. </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>A hand grabs his ankle, pulling him close and his reflex to struggle is annulled by the familiar canopy of white that spreads above him. The fear keeps falling, leaving him behind as it descends into the frothy waves they fly above; who was he to doubt a master of the sky, even one as pesky as this one— </em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> “Some people don’t want to be caught.” Is all he can think to say. The irony in that statement isn’t lost on him, but he puts any thoughts of the gem he had come to collect out of mind. He’d long given up maintaining the ruse of these meetings being merely a way for the jewels to find their way back; they were a chance to see the thief with a thinner veil between them, separating them. What he hadn’t expected was to see KID laid so bare he was practically flayed in front of him. It changed things. </em>
</p><p>A cold kind of satisfaction fills him at the memory of the pain, a promise for the end that loomed nigh. He’d be rid of the thief, a nuisance and threat in one that he’d never realized needed to be removed permanently. He’d been soft before, he could admit that as much as it pained him to realize it. All those opportunities to kill him and he’d let them pass like the idiot he’d been. Sentimental, because of the secret smiles and the stolen kisses; pathetic, because of the very same. </p><p>The elevator dinged, signalling he’d finally arrived at the awaited floor and he stepped through the doors with a thrum of anticipation running through him. No more guns. He could do this in a far more personal, and more pleasurable way. The hallway leading to the stairs stretched dark ahead of him and he took the time to loosen his fingers and wrists in preparation. </p><p>Ran had always been the powerhouse between the two of them but he could do his own kind of damage, albeit in a less merciful way; it would just take longer to reach the same result. The moonlit thief of the air would die…</p><p>    —<em> couldn’t die. KID couldn’t be dead, he’d simply vanished like he always did. That was the point of magic tricks, you believed the impossible until it was revealed that it was never the truth in the first place. Conan wasn’t one to be duped by those kinds of falsehoods, he professed to find the truth in any situation and yet… He couldn’t accept this one.  </em></p><p> <em> Couldn’t accept that he’d seen the shattered monocle, had seen him plummet like a downed bird, and couldn’t accept that someone that much larger than life could have it extinguished in one moment like a bonfire snuffed akin to a candle flame. It didn’t hold water, the idea that KID could be dead.  </em></p><p> <em> Conan had been in denial, something he’d scoffed at before when culprits and victims alike had stood in his way to finding the truth but this was one time he understood their pain for an instant... </em></p><p>The door to the roof was ajar, a careless mistake by a doubtless cornered thief who had realized he had nowhere to run. Shinichi stepped into the crisp night air and took a deep breath to steady his itching fingers, his hunger for something that he couldn’t quite grasp. </p><p>    The roof was littered with obstructions, grates rattling underfoot and pipes as diving in and out of the concrete in loops taller than he was. It was a maze of gantries and steps leading up and over the landscape of the roof. Shinichi surveyed the veritable trove of hiding places that KID could take advantage of and saw the smear of blood on the doorframe’s left side shimmering in the light of the moon. </p><p>    It was a fine night for hunting thieves. The moon hung fat overhead, clouds scudding only occasionally across it and the breeze swept through the high-flung place like a wronged child running to tattle on their playmate, echoing every small sound back to him, be it a footstep or the rustle of a cape. </p><p>    Shinichi grinned, rounding the door to the left and finding a thin gap leading behind the roof access. Squeezing through was a nuisance, his frustration burning hotter at the thought of the thief playing cat and mouse with him once he’d already wounded him. A mere thief thought to outwit him, when he only ever prevailed because of the rules set between them. </p><p>    The rules were gone now. Broken, shattered, the same as he will do to his prey. </p><p>    “You try and hide in the shadows when we both know you’re more suited to the limelight,” Shinichi called, his voice ringing amidst the metal. “Show me your bleached armor, let’s see how it stands against the scrutiny of the law.” </p><p>    He passed an abandoned looking workplace, tools strewn across the ground in a circle where a pipe was leaking steadily, and grabbed the extendable hook meant for bringing wires closer. The barbed end would do nicely. </p><p>    No one answered, nothing stirred except for a flock of birds taking flight from behind the water tower housed near the edge. </p><p>    “Even your friends betray you!” He laughed, the sound a little too erratic for his tastes. “Well, besides me, I mean.” </p><p>    The water tower grew the closer he got. With the silence reigning, he stalked the walkway leading to the space underneath it with careful steps. A glimpse of pure white amidst the grey and brown caught his eye and he smiled at the alluringly unguarded back, grip tightening on the hook before he struck. </p><p>    The barb sank into the fabric through the gap in the outlet boxes, the motion forceful enough to stab clear through to the skin but the softness of his target was wrong. Shinichi cursed, pulling the hook back and the top hat slipped from where it had rested atop a large bundle of cables and into his hand. </p><p>    No sooner had he realized the deception than a force slammed into him from the side. They rolled, the hook a burden in the close proximity and Shinichi abandoned it in favor of finding the bullet wound, fingers curled into claws as KID tried to hold him still. Twisting and writhing with feverish strength, Shinichi’s fingers found purchase and he sank his thumb into the bloody mess at the thief’s shoulder, the pressure and the calculated dig at the wound’s entry wrung a strident scream from the thief’s mouth.</p><p>    KID screamed, even as he tried to stifle it, and the tenuous hold he’d had on Shinichi was abandoned in favor of escape. A swift knee to his stomach and Shinichi made one last grab before KID wriggled free from his clutches again. </p><p>    Doubled over and struggling to catch his breath, Shinichi took the opportunity to see what the thief had left behind in his grasp and found the monocle, still intact. He’d strip KID of everything he had, piece by piece if that was what it took to finally end him. </p><p>    Straightening up, he tilted the monocle to catch the thin strip of moonlight that filtered around the edge of the water tower, finding a fleeting reflection staring back at him from the glass. He was momentarily surprised by what he saw, but red suited him better than blue anyway, the change was simply a sign of how different he was from the thief. No longer mirror images…</p><p>    <em> “There is only one truth!” Kaito announced, hopping down from his perch on top of the fence as Shinichi approached.  </em></p><p> <em> “Was it just to confuse people?” Shinichi sighed, tucking his cleats under his arm and surveying the state of Kaito’s hair.  </em></p><p> <em> “I got at least five people to do a double-take, so I count that as a win.”  </em></p><p> <em> “I thought you were supposed to be incognito.”  </em></p><p> <em> “You can’t get more undercover than being someone else. I should know.” </em></p><p> <em> “If people ask me how I was in more places than one,” Shinichi reached out and drew Kaito close, ruffling his hair until it looked more like the usual birds’-nest. “I’ll tell them, as you so faithfully put it, the one and only truth.” </em></p><p> <em> Pouting at the idea of his game being spoiled, Kaito plucked at the sweaty jersey sticking to Shinichi’s chest before kissing him so quickly Shinichi was still wrinkling his nose at the smell.  </em></p><p> <em> “Did you win?” </em></p><p> <em> “It was a scrimmage match, so it doesn’t matter.”  </em></p><p> <em> “But did you score a goal?” Kaito started down the street backwards as Shinichi began walking, mirroring him. The hair hadn’t been the only thing that had completed the disguise and Shinichi was glad to see Kaito’s features surfacing in place of his own. The usual serious cant to his mouth was replaced with Kaito’s infectiously wide grin, his eyeteeth sharp and white. His hands weren’t stuck in his pockets either, free to wave and dance in the air in accompaniment to his speech because his words were never complete without the appropriate grand gestures.  </em></p><p> <em> He’d gotten to explore the layers underneath the suit, seen the personas melt off of Kaito until he was honestly himself and while the sparks that had shown through all the disguises and all the voices had captivated Shinichi already, the truth had captured him completely.  </em></p><p> <em> As Kaito had reminded him so often during their dates, Shinichi had been the one well and truly caught instead.  </em></p><p>“Shinichi…” The faint voice came from a few feet away, seeped in desperation and despair, just as Shinichi preferred it. KID sat slumped against a wall, curled in on himself as he tried to staunch the bleeding of his aggravated wound. “Don’t you remember me? Us?”</p><p>    “Oh, I remember. Don’t worry, your meitantei has plenty of memories to sift through.” Shinichi scowled, muttering as though in an afterthought, “<em> Too </em> many.” </p><p>    “Who are you?” </p><p>    Tossing the monocle in his hand idly, Shinichi considered the question as he crossed the distance to the thief, his quarry bracing himself against the wall in an attempt to stand up. He’d had a lot of names, Shinichi being only the newest one, and he had little patience left for them after so many centuries of existence. When he was done, names wouldn’t matter anymore; names only had meaning when there was someone else to call you by them. </p><p>    A too-quick movement drew his attention away from his reverie and the sharp noise was the only warning before the monocle failed to drop back into his hand. Pinned to the girder of the water tank by the corner of a Queen of Hearts, the monocle swung tantalizingly even as KID turned the card gun on Shinichi. </p><p>    “We both know you couldn’t,” Shinichi purred, enjoying himself immensely. These were the moments he loved, the realization of the dawning end, the exquisite pain of knowing it was the one they loved the most who would hold the knife before plunging it into their heart. It was written on KID’s face, the mask that had worn his smile long since lost, and the hollow sadness that dwelt there now was a delicious sight to drink in. “You must wonder why it was him.” </p><p>    KID bared his teeth, a rictus of a grin pulling his lips back in a last laugh. It was disquieting to hear when Shinichi had been revelling in his victory so far. </p><p>    “Of course it would be him. He’s the KID Killer!”</p><p>    <em> —if it isn’t the KID Killer,” Kaito said, laughing gleefully as Shinichi stalked across the rooftop towards him shaking his head in disbelief at how unworried the thief looked. He knew that the threat of being unmasked was gone, he’d promised as much months ago but honestly, Kaito was flaunting it with far too much fun.  </em></p><p> <em> “Why is that the title I get? It’s ridiculous,” he muttered, “Shouldn’t you be the Kid Killer? You tased me once, remember? What if that was what did me in?” </em></p><p> <em> “You survived getting poisoned by a criminal organization, I think you could survive a little electricity from harmless old me.” Touching the brim of his top hat, Kaito bowed low. “Besides, to me you’ll always be Meitantei.” </em></p><p>“How true,” Shinichi admitted, taking the momentary lapse in KID’s apparent concentration as an opportunity to lunge forward and cross the distance left between them. Contrary to his lackadaisical behavior, KID snapped the gun to point at him and fired. </p><p>    Barely pausing, Shinichi snatched the card out of the air and tossed it to the side. The King of Hearts fluttered to the ground ineffectually, landing in a puddle dripping from the water tank. KID, having used the spare second he’d had before Shinichi reached him, tried to twist out of his grasp yet again but Shinichi caught him by the throat and pinned him to the wall he’d been using to stand. </p><p>    <em> Shinichi felt a flash of heat at the name, and he knew Kaito was aware of the effect too, if the sly smile playing at the corner of his mouth was anything to go by. Even backed up against the wall as he was, the thief was almost inviting Shinichi forward until they were barely in its shadow, only the pretense of the chase left behind. Along with the thrill.  </em></p><p> <em> “You were too easy to follow tonight.” His hands were buried in the soft, silky folds of the cape, the monocle glinting as Kaito canted his head to the side.  </em></p><p> <em> “Is that disappointment in my performance I hear?” Kaito’s voice turned low. “And if that’s how I wanted it?”  </em></p><p> <em> “Then Inspector Nakamori will catch on when even he’s able to catch you.”  </em></p><p>KID wheezed, hands scrabbling at Shinichi’s arms in a vain effort to loosen his grip but he only struck at the bullet wound again, the quick jab enough for KID to freeze in pain. </p><p>    “This was the oddest hunt I’ve ever had to undertake, I’ll give you that,” Shinichi said, voice pitched conversationally even though he’d found a slight tightness growing in his throat. “What a pair you two make. If I hadn’t felt the urge to kill you, I might never have guessed the bond was there. A cat and the mouse he has to catch.”</p><p>    <em> “Never.” The word was whispered in his ear like a promise. “That’s something only you can do.”  </em></p><p>Shinichi shuddered, blinking away the words. Thumbs digging into KID’s skin, he concentrated on watching the thief flounder like a gutted fish as his air slowly ran out. </p><p>    <em> Gloved hands on his skin, gentle as he pulled Kaito into him—  </em></p><p>Snarling, Shinichi bore down on KID; he could practically see his reflection in the glassy eyes that were sliding closed, so close to gone. </p><p>    <em> Shinichi caught his lips in a kiss—</em></p><p>    <em>—</em>purpling with lack of oxygen and yet<em>—</em></p><p><em>    —just as he remembered them</em>. <em> Knew</em> <em> them, felt them</em>.</p><p>    His hands<em>—</em></p><p>
  <em>    —grew slack—</em>
</p><p>    <em>—</em>sliding into<em>—</em></p><p>
  <em>    —Kaito’s—</em>
</p><p><em>    —</em>KID's hair.</p><p>    He’d closed his eyes, but a wetness on his cheek pulled him back to the moment and he found tears slipping down Kaito’s cheeks. Fingers cradled his face, weak and trembling but strong enough to hold him as if afraid he’d break apart. </p><p>    When they pulled away, Kaito let out a ragged cough that seemed to tear at his throat. The bruises blooming along his neck matched Shinichi’s hands perfectly and he sank to the ground alongside Kaito as he struggled to sort his thoughts and memories from the fog that threatened to overtake him. He’d almost killed Kaito, had come so close he couldn’t have said whether that ‘almost’ was false and he tangled his hand in Kaito’s like it was a landline to sanity, to something that made sense because he’d almost killed him and he was barely certain of who he was at the moment. </p><p>    Kaito doubled over, retching onto the concrete roof and all Shinichi could do was try and keep him from toppling face first to the ground. In between the rattling wind and sloshing of the water above them, a sharp clink interrupted their silent recovery. </p><p>    A gem, redder than it had any right to be in the dark of the shadows, lay below Kaito who finally sat back, exhausted and suddenly smiling. </p><p>    “Like...a fairy tale,” he rasped, voice tattered and wavering in and out of a whisper.</p><p>    “What?” Shinichi couldn’t follow, his only thoughts on why Kaito would have swallowed a jewel in the first place. </p><p>    “Cursed,” Kaito gestured at him with their still-joined hands, “And broken by a kiss.” </p><p>    The absurdity of the statement dissolved the mist of confusion, fueled by the familiar exasperation that came with trying to follow Kaito’s reasoning for his tricks and pranks. He could trust Kaito to find the situation funny right after he’d almost died. </p><p>    “You don’t have to go through all of that just to get me to kiss you,” Shinichi said, his voice breaking. </p><p>    “I know.” Hissing as he shrugged and pulled on the wound, Kaito continued, “You were the one who said I was too easy to follow.” </p><p>    Shinichi wanted to bury his face in his hands for how ridiculous Kaito could be but the humor was all that was keeping him from cracking apart. </p><p>    “I’ll never say it again. In fact,” he looked up, his tone turning serious, “I want it to be so easy, I don’t even have to try.” </p><p>    Kaito stared at him, the words hanging between them like a thin red string. Shinichi gripped it tight now that he’d found it—because when someone riffles through your memories, they inevitably let slip a few of their own, and while they had no name, he knew what name they had used for him and Kaito—and while it was tied around his heart, he could only offer it to Kaito. </p><p>    “The KID Killer,” Kaito said, a sad kind of laugh slipping out of him. “You succeeded, one way or another. What I was after…” He picked up the gem and took off his glove, the jewel now ensconced inside the makeshift pouch. “Wasn’t what I wanted.” </p><p>    The name had sent a shiver through Shinichi, and he doubted he’d ever be able to bear the sound of it again. It was too close to the truth. </p><p>    Kaito squeezed his hand. “You’ve caught me, meitantei. I’m yours.”</p><p> </p><p>#</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As always I'm also on <a href="https://squidpro-quo.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> if you have any prompts or thoughts!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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